Tell No One
by Mandy Kay Miller
Summary: A controller at school finds out the identity of the Animorphs, but he won't turn them in just yet... not until he gets what he wants.  Meanwhile, Marco discovers what it is to fall in love with someone who is all wrong.
1. Erica Jenkins

"What are you watching?" Jake demanded of me as he walked into my room. I hadn't heard him come in, which was odd, because I was usually pretty aware of whenever the front door opened. Then again, I was pretty distracted at the moment.

I answered his question with a smirk. "Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders."

He chuckled and sat down next to me. It wasn't the kind of thing Jake would watch on his own, but he _was_ a guy, and it's not like he was going to argue. "You're pathetic," he said as he got comfortable in my chair. "What's..."

"Uniform fitting," I replied robotically. "I like that redhead."

"That one's cute," he mentioned. The girls on the screen changed so quickly it was hard to keep track, but I was fairly certain he was talking about the little blonde. I say "little" not because she was particularly small, but just because she was the youngest of the group, and it showed. She looked like a 12-year-old to me.

"That's Abigail, the high schooler," I told him. "I don't like her; she's a brat."

"You know they're probably all brats," he replied.

I didn't like him talking about my Erica Jenkins that way, but really couldn't argue with the hypothesis. "Shut up," I muttered.

"You watch this regularly?"

"When I notice it's on." He was smirking and shaking his head. "Oh come on, Jake, don't tell me you're not enjoying this."

"I think..." He trailed off, but I knew what he was thinking. He was thinking I needed a girlfriend, but he didn't want to say it in case I took offense.

The truth? I probably would have, but I wouldn't have shown it. But the fact that I knew what he was thinking was just as offensive as it would have been if he said it. I was never the kind of guy who wanted a steady girlfriend, though. I'd been on a few dates here and there – okay, only three, with three different girls. It was kind of pathetic when I thought about it, but it's tough saving the world. In fact, all the dates I'd ever had were before the Yeerks came into our lives. Once they did, my love life – my very small, almost microscopic love life – vanished.

A lot of times I think it wouldn't have if there were another girl on the team for me, but there's not. Jake's got Cassie, Tobias has Rachel, and me? The lone wolf.

I'm just not really much of a romantic guy, and no matter what girls say, that's what they want. Even Xena would appreciate a dozen roses if the right hawk sent them to her. I'm not stupid. I know all women appreciate that stuff. But I'm just not that kind of guy, and I've never wanted to commit. It seems weird to call a girlfriend a commitment, but for someone like me who's never had it before, it is a step up. Which just goes to show how afraid of commitment I really was.

"Yeah, I know," I muttered back to him. "How do you feel about a seventh member?"

He smirked. "Don't even joke about that. You know we can't."

"I know, I know."

"What are they doing now?"

"Etiquette lesson. Abigail's coming up again."

"Who?"

"Your girl."

We continued watching the girls try to eat their French Onion Soup while looking elegant. The little girl grabbed the cheese with her fingers and the eating Nazi blew the whistle on her.

"How did you know?" he asked me.

"I've seen this one."

"Then why are you watching it?"

Etiquette was done, and they were back at rehearsal. Erica was dancing. It was to country music, but still. "Shh. My redhead's on."

"The one next to her looks old."

"Yeah, she's like thirty." I didn't know how old Erika Jo actually was, but she was way older than my dear Erica Jenkins. Besides, she _looked_ thirty. Or more.

That's when my dad walked in. He took a look at the 100-pound blondes dancing in sports bras on the TV and said, "woah, what are you boys watching?"

"Marco's watching the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders," Jake supplied.

"Hey, you're watching it, too," I added. I turned to my dad. "Oh, stop looking so disappointed. There are worse things we could be watching."

He smiled and nodded. I knew my dad would be cool with it in the long run. "That's true, but don't you still think this kind of thing kind of objectifies-"

"Hey, I watch it for the art," I explained. "I've learned quite a bit about dance technique from this show."

"And food etiquette," Jake added helpfully. I smiled.

"Yep, and etiquette."

Dad sighed and shook his head, then took a good look at all the girls lined up dancing in the gym. Still shaking his head, he asked, "So, which one's your favorite?"

"The redhead," I replied right away, smiling now. Yeah, I knew he'd come around. "Her name's Erica Jenkins, she's like twenty, I think. She's great."

"I like the high schooler," Jake added.

"They got high school girls in this show?" dad demanded.

"Only one, but she's a senior," I explained. "Have a seat, dad. Stay awhile."

He shook his head, but he was still smiling. He was amused, and I knew it. "If your mother saw you watching this..."

"She'd laugh, too," I finished. I glanced over at Jake. He was uncomfortable.

Jake didn't like it when my dad and I talked about mom. He never did, not even before the war. He thought it was supposed to be some kind of big taboo thing, a subject so sensitive that it should never be brought up. He didn't understand that it was comforting for my dad and me to mention her once in awhile. It reminded us that the other one still thought about her, still loved her. It was comforting to know she was still special to each of us. He didn't get that, so whenever she got brought up he didn't know how to react.

"Well, I suppose I can allow this," dad said. "But you know, if-"

"I know, dad," I muttered. "We're probably not even going to finish this."

"Are you guys going over to Jake's?"

"Or Cassie's," I answered. Dad raised his eyebrows and wore a mischievous smirk.

"You spend a lot of time at Cassie's," he said.

I think I almost threw up. "Ew, dad, please." I shook my head and looked at Jake. He was trying really hard not to burst out laughing. "Way not my type," I said.

"Well if you're not interested in her, who _are_ you interested in?" he asked.

"Erica Jenkins," I replied firmly. She was the only girl I had time for at the moment, what with killing aliens and all.

"That girl?" She was the closest to the camera at the moment. Her smile was amazing.

"That's her."

"Looks a little plain, don't you think?"

It was her long, straight hair. I'd noticed it, but her face and body far outweighed the hair problem. Of course all the girls had great bodies, so I looked for the differentiating factor: faces. Erica was absolutely gorgeous, and yeah, her hair was freakishly long, but she could always get it cut. I would convince her a couple weeks into the relationship.

"She's not plain," I replied, a little too defensively. "That's a good-looking woman, right there. Her hair's just too long."

It was at this point I realized Jake was looking at me like I was the lamest thing ever. I probably was the lamest thing in the room, anyways.

"When you've analyzed her like that, it's time for you to go outside," Jake told me. He hit my shoulder. "C'mon, let's play basketball."

"You're like a foot taller than me," I replied.

"I'll play on my knees."

"Shut up."

Jake laughed. "Seriously, man."

"Let's play Galactic Warrior," I replied with a smirk. "Then we'll see who's laughing."

"You know you're five times better than me at that," he said. My dad shook his head and walked out the door. He'd done his job; make sure we're not doing drugs, and make a comment about how we shouldn't objectify women.

"I'll play with a hand behind my back," I tried.

"You need to get outside."

"You're never going to beat my high score with that attitude."

Jake paused and leaned forward, looking out my door. When he was sure my dad had rounded the corner, he asked, "What about the mall?"

I frowned. Was this a hint? "You mean like... the Gap?" I tried.

"No, no, Ax just wants to go to the mall."

"Why?"

"Do you have to ask?"

I considered this for a minute, then snapped my fingers. "Cinnamon buns."

"I thought I'd be nice and take him, but I need you around if I'm going to keep my sanity."

I nodded. Erica wasn't on screen anymore, and as long as Jake wasn't going to humiliate me with his jump shot, I could stand tearing myself away from the TV. Besides, malls have arcades, and arcades have Galactic Warrior.

So I stood up and grabbed some quarters off my dresser.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jake asked me. "I never said yes to video games."

"I just want to be prepared." He shook his head, stood up, and turned the TV off.


	2. Not Erica Jenkins

A/N: Some housekeeping...

-I don't own Animorphs, but Shannon and Alex are mine.

-This story WILL be violent, and maybe a little sick and twisted. I'm incapable of writing a non-violent story. It's going to start a little lighter, but it will get worse as it goes, so if you don't like violence, stop now. That's why I rated it T.

-I will try very hard not to make this romance a Mary-Sue. If you see red flags, tell me, I'll fix them.

-I'm going to be honest and admit I don't like writing Ax. If you're an Ax fan, you probably won't like this story, because he takes the backseat in everything I write.

-Does anyone know the last names of the Animorphs? If you don't, I'll make them up, but I need them for the next couple chapters. I know Jake and Rachel Berenson, but I don't know the others. I feel like Cassie's starts with a J... like Jones or Johnson. Little help?

Here's chapter 2:

We went to the woods and tracked down Ax. Apparently he'd been pestering Jake about another mall visit. We'd only taken him a few times, but he loved it, and it had been at least 3 months since he'd last been there. I guess it's kinda like a kid who lives next to Disneyland. Except going to the mall was free, so we should have been taking him all the more often. So, while the request seemed random to me at first, I started to understand why he wanted this trip.

Of course, we first hit the food court.

The three of us were hanging out at a table... Ax and his cinnamon buns, Jake with a smoothie, and me empty-handed. I'd only brought quarters, and I wasn't going to waste those on something as petty as food.

Jake nodded towards one of the counters to our side. "That girl's checking you out," he said.

I turned my head and looked. I'd seen her before. She was definitely not the kind of girl I would ever go for. She wasn't a hideous person, but she was definitely not a babe. Her shiny black hair was cut in a bob, but it was kinda Victoria Beckham, and it looked decent on her. Especially when she smiled, which she did often, but she was almost too obnoxiously perky for me. I had a class with her... was it English? Or Trigonometry? Either way, it was after lunch.

"I know her," I said. "We have... some class together."

"Who's the kid?" Funny, I didn't even notice till he said something.

Sure enough, she was sporting a black stroller in front of her. The person behind the counter handed her change and she stepped to the side for the next person to order. As she did, she looked over at us. I turned my head right away back to the table and nodded at Ax, trying to look like I was acknowledging something he'd said. Trying to look cool. Or at least... not like a stalker.

But Jake waved her over.

"What are you doing?" I demanded in a hushed whisper.

"Being friendly," he replied with a huge smile. "She goes to school with us." He squirmed under my glare, and finally demanded, "What?"

"This is going to be sufficiently awkward, especially with Ax here."

"Just use that great Marco charm I've seen so much over the years."

Sarcasm. Just what I wanted to hear.

She came over to us, her tray resting on the top of the stroller. There was a boy in it, maybe a year old. I wondered if he could talk or not... I didn't know anything about kids. But more importantly, I wondered who he was. Was she babysitting? Was he her cousin? Brother?

"Hey, Marco," she said when she got to our table. Funny, Jake waved her over but I was the first one she noticed. Yeah, he was right, she wanted me.

"Oh, hey, Shannon," I answered a little awkwardly. Maybe it wasn't Ax I had to worry about. I'm normally pretty good with girls – check that, I'm normally _incredible_ with girls – but Shannon was one that I hardly knew, and it was weird for me to see her just come over and generate a conversation. A girl I'm interested in, fine, I can work well under that situation. But Shannon? I wasn't going to get all flirty and charmy with a girl I wasn't interested in.

"What brings you here?" Jake asked her. His own tone was incredibly friendly and easygoing. It was a nice contrast to mine.

"Oh, just, y'know, shopping," she answered. "What about you?"

"The fine dining," he replied with a smirk. Then he held out his hand. "I don't really know you. I'm Jake."

"Shannon," she answered, shaking it. Then she looked to Ax. "Who's this?"

"A friend from out of town," Jake replied. He looked at me for a second, then back to Ax for proper introductions. Yeah, I got the hint. He wanted me to do more talking. "He's, uh... just moved here," I said.

"Oh," she said.

"From Iowa," I blurted out. Jake stared at me. Like, of all the things I could have said, I had to give Ax another detail. We tried to avoid details with Ax whenever we could. It was less for us to remember.

"What's your name?" she asked him. Ax wiped the frosting from his mouth.

"My name is Ax," he replied. She smirked and tilted her head.

"Ax? That's a cool name."

Jake chuckled. "His real name is Phillip, but we just... we call him Ax. It's a long story."

"I see." Shannon bit her lip, and I caught her glance at me out of the corner of her eye. The second she saw me looking back, she turned her attention back to Jake.

"Well, I just... I thought I'd say hi," she said. She turned back to me and gave a nervous chuckle, a silence-filler. "See you in class?"

"Yep," I replied. "I'll be there."

"Cool." She looked back to Ax. "It was nice to meet you... Ax."

"A pleasure to meet you, as well," Ax returned with a nod. I was so proud of how well he was picking up human mannerisms. And how he could even talk without playing with the sounds all the time. He still did sometimes, but he knew when not to.

She started walking away, but Jake called after her, "bye, Shannon."

She turned. "Bye, Jake!" Then she took the stroller, tray on top of it, and walked over to another empty table, where she sat to eat her food.

"She seems nice," he told me.

"Shut up, man."

"I think she likes you."

"Not another word."

"You don't like her?"

I sighed. He didn't understand the hunter instinct. Jake had always had Cassie there. She just fell into his lap, and he never had to play the game. Those of us who _did_ play the game – either because we didn't have Jake's good fortune, or because we were not as responsible as he was and didn't want to settle down with the first thing we saw – knew that my and Shannon's relationship was off to a horrible start, and therefore it wouldn't possibly work out. She was the girl I barely noticed in class. I was the guy she probably hadn't noticed until today. We could live without each other. It was no big deal. And "no big deals" never become dates.

"I don't have anything against her," I replied. "But she's just... it's just..."

"I think she's cute," he stated, taking another sip of his smoothie.

"I think you're a doofus."

"Prince Jake is right," Ax said, in between inhaling cinnamon buns. "She's an attractive human."

"Even _Ax_ likes her," Jake announced proudly. "You should give-"

"Not my type," I insisted. "She's not..."

"A cheerleader?" Jake asked with a smirk. "She's not Erica Jenkins?"

"Exactly. She's not Erica Jenkins."

Jake shook his head. He knew I was afraid of commitment, but of all the girls to pick for me to ask out, why her? "You should really give her-"

"What about daddy?" I asked. When he looked confused, I clarified, "Baby's got a daddy, right?"

"You don't know that was her kid," Jake said.

"I have a feeling," I insisted.

"They're probably broken up if she's checking you out like that," he reasoned.

"I don't care. Once you have a kid with someone, daddy's paying child support, so they're still probably on good terms. So it's not out of the question that he still likes her, and that he'd slit the throat of a nearby short guy expressing interest."

He laughed at that. "Marco, you _are_ paranoid."

"No, I just like to make excuses."

A/N: Just a reminder... if you know their last names, what are they?


	3. Alex's Note

I don't usually sleep through Spanish. It's my second class, so I'm not as groggy as I am in my first class, and not yet ready for my nap. But today was just one of those days, you know?

So when I heard the name "Marco" said in impatience, my head snapped off my desk and I looked at the teacher who was glaring at me.

I think she was from Columbia. Some Spanish-speaking country in South America, anyways, but it might have been Peru. Her accent was too thick, but her English was good. Infinitely better than my Spanish, anyway.

"Uh, yeah, ustedes," I muttered. She pursed her lips for a moment.

"The 'yo' form of 'tener,'" she said in her "I hate repeating myself" voice.

"Oh, the _yo_ form!" I thought quick. Weren't you supposed to just take away the vowel and r and add an o? Teno? Wait, wasn't that Spanish for ten?

I tried to think back to my childhood. My mom spoke Spanish to me sometimes, but only if she was either really mad or really excited. But all I remembered her saying in Spanish was "ay, chico," when I got on her nerves. And I knew "ay, chico" was definitely not the yo form of tener.

"Ten...o," I finally said.

"_Tengo,_" she replied, with quite a bit of venom.

Oh yeah, that's right, I remembered that one. "Tengo una pena en la espalda." (I have a pain in my side.) No, that wasn't it. It was "_Eres_ una pena en la espalda." (You're a pain in my side.)

When she stopped glaring at me, I glanced at Cassie. Cassie sat two rows ahead of me, and one to my left. She was the only person I really knew in class. Other people I randomly knew the names of, but I didn't know them in the sense of knowing who they really were. But, the fact that I knew Cassie was supposed to be a bit of a secret, at least here at school. It didn't matter if my dad knew I was hanging out with her... he didn't really know her, and he didn't know my friends. But people at school would think it was odd if we were suddenly best buds.

So, while at school, I was pretty limited to Jake. Sometimes I'd see Rachel, but only if both of us were talking to Jake at the same time. Cassie was a rarity.

Which is why I had to pretend like I didn't care too much when I saw Alex Harris, first-string football running back, number 37, hand her a fairly lengthy note.

"Fairly lengthy," meaning it was more than just a "do you like me? Check yes or no" kind of note. This note was maybe half a page of notebook paper. I wanted to read it over her shoulder, but she was just too far away. One thing I _did_ notice was that her face went pale.

You probably already know, Cassie is black. Well, half-black, but still, she's dark-skinned. So when I say Cassie went pale, I mean she went _pale._

I don't know why I assumed it was Yeerk-related. I guess because I figured if the note said anything that mattered in the "real world," it wouldn't get that kind of reaction from her. If she was reacting that way, it had to be very, very serious.

"Cassie," I whispered. She didn't answer. She kept on reading her note. "Cassie," I said, a little louder.

The girl behind her looked at me, then turned back to her and tapped her on the shoulder. It took her a while to respond, but when she finally did, the girl pointed back to me. Cassie stared at me, her eyes wide.

I don't know what I expected from her, but I wanted to know everything was okay... which is probably why I shouldn't have said her name. Her huge eyes scared me as much as her ghost-white face. I nodded towards the note in her hand. She slowly shook her head, then turned back to the note.

What was it? It was driving me crazy. I brainstormed ideas during the remainder of the class... why in the world would Alex be passing her notes? I thought briefly about some kind of joke I could tell Jake, but it wasn't the time. What was it?

When the bell rang, Alex leapt out of his seat and gunned it for the door. He obviously didn't feel like talking. Funny, neither did Cassie. She sat in her seat dumbfounded while the rest of the normal students stood up and grabbed their backpacks.

I approached her. I didn't care about the image, the whole "don't fraternize with Cassie" code. It didn't matter anymore.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She turned her head slowly to look at me.

"Marco... we're... dead."

"What?" I demanded.

She just shook her head and stood up, like she'd seen a ghost. "He knows," she said.

I didn't ask what he knew. I didn't want to make her say it, but it was kind of obvious. If he knew to give the letter to her, he must've known our identities. Or, at least hers.

I tried to get some information out of her, but she wouldn't talk. She walked out of the room like a zombie. Honestly, I lost the feeling in my hands and I felt some kind of lump in my throat. It was hard to swallow, hard to breathe. Just thinking about the fact that the war was over and that we, humanity's last hope, were done.

No, we weren't just done. We were worse than done. "Done" could mean dead. But we were worse than dead. We were going to be slaves of the worst possible type. Not slaves in our own country, not even slaves in our own homes. Slaves in our own minds.

I'd never been a controller before. Jake had, and so had Cassie, so they knew what it was like, but not me. I had only heard stories... and I didn't want to imagine.

When I walked out of the Spanish room I saw Chapman and jumped approximately five feet in the air. He frowned and looked at me like something was wrong. Everything was wrong.

I was sure he was going to grab me by the collar and drag me down, through the janitor's closet, right into the Yeerk pool. But he just stared at me for a moment and then said, "did I startle you, Marco?"

"Uh, yeah, a little," I replied with a smirk. I gave a little nervous laughter and walked past him, trying to stay out of arms reach in case he actually _did_ decide to grab me.

I had to get out of here. We all did. If the Yeerks knew who we were, they knew where we went to school, and they knew our schedules. We had to get out before they got to us. But why would Alex give a warning? Was he part of the Yeerk Peace Movement? Wouldn't Cassie have said something?

My head was spinning.

I don't know how I made it to my locker, but the bell rang when I opened it and I realized nobody was in the hallway anymore. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Like on top of possibly becoming a controller, I was also late for class. Great.

"So are you going to get out of here?" I asked myself as I threw some books into my locker. "Or are you going to go to class and be a sitting duck?"

I paused. Stared into my locker for a few moments while considering. If they knew our identities, we had to get out. But, wouldn't Cassie have told me we had to leave if that were the case? The fact that she didn't tell me to bail made me think we would be okay in class. And yet, the words "we're dead" sounded uncomfortable, and some kind of survival instinct kicked in. I didn't want to be dead.

While considering all of this, a blur of grey swooshed behind me. Controller? I whirled around, ready for battle, when I found... Shannon. She reached the garbage bin at the end of the hall and shoved her face into it. And threw up.

Even if I had been interested in her before, I definitely wasn't now.

"Uh... are you okay?" I asked slowly as she recovered. She looked over at me, her own face rather pale. Like Cassie's.

"Oh, man, that's... embarrassing," she said. Oh yeah, that's right, she liked me. "I just... that turkey gravy in the cafeteria, you know..."

"Yeah, I know," I assured her. "Do you feel any better?"

She nodded. "A little, yeah. I'll bounce back."

"Are you... do you have class?"

"Actually, I was about to leave. I'm..." She looked uncomfortable, and I was guessing there was some information she didn't want to tell me about. "I have to leave early today."

"Ah." I nodded. Not the most brilliant response, but it was seriously difficult for me to communicate with any girl who I wasn't interested in, or hadn't been in life-or-death situations with me.

"What about you?"

I turned and looked around. Her and I were the only people in the entire hallway. "I'm... just running late."

"You were staring at your locker, not moving an inch," she noted.

I smirked. "Uh, yeah, I have a lot on my mind."

"Do you wanna come with me? If you want to skip school, that is."

"Where are you going?"

She shifted her weight a little and some hair fell into her face as she looked down. "Well, remember that kid at the mall yesterday?"

"The baby?" I asked.

"Yeah, in the stroller? He's mine."

"Oh, really?" It was probably obvious I'd already guessed.

"He has a doctor's appointment today. But I just thought, if you wanted to get out of here..."

I don't even know what I said next, but I ended up in her car.


	4. Hooky

A/N: DinosaurNothlit: Haha yeah, I knew there was some alias they used for Ax, but I couldn't remember what it was. (But I knew it started with a P!) Thanks. I changed his name.

Thanks, tigergirl and SouthrnBelle for the last name help. I thought I'd be using them in this chapter, but... fusing these stories together is proving harder than I thought, so I'm scrapping what I had and am totally re-writing this sucker.

To one and all: Given the time Animorphs was written in, it's understandable that there was no mention of cell phones in the series. However, I decided cell phones would be a helpful addition to this story, so don't read this in the 90's like you did with the series. Read it in the 21st century, because that's when I'm writing it.

Wow, I feel old! I remember when I was sitting around, excited for book 2 to come out. Sheesh... I'm a geezer...

I've kept you long enough from chapter 4:

If I said the drive to her house wasn't awkward, I'd be lying. And as far as I was concerned, it was just more proof that her and I could never make a relationship work. Would it always be like this? Me, unattracted to her. Her, too nervous to speak. Just one big silence, while she tried to think of something that wasn't lame, and I tried to think of something that wasn't interesting.

This was our drive.

We rolled into a suburban area with average-looking houses. Her house was white, and it had the metal diamond-like wiring fence around the back. Nothing special. No porch, no pool, nothing that everyone else didn't have. The normalness of the house seemed abnormal, somehow.

She pulled into the driveway and pulled the keys out. "I'm just going to run in and grab him... do you want to come in?"

Did I want to? Well, honestly, I was regretting my decision to come with her in the first place. But at this point, how weird would it be if I sat in her car alone while she went to get her kid?

"Yeah, sure," I replied. I hopped out of the car and she unlocked the front door to the house. Inside, it was an average house. Not incredibly clean, not incredibly messy.

She flung her keys onto the counter of the kitchen and ran down the stairs. I stood in the entryway awkwardly, peeking around to check the place out. From what I could tell, nobody else was home. Was her son home alone? As a baby?

She came back up soon enough, holding her little boy. He was wearing baby jeans and a tiny navy blue sweatshirt. He didn't look happy, but she was bouncing him a little, trying to calm him down. She reached around me, a little too close, and grabbed her keys off the counter.

She sighed. "Okay, let's go," she said.

"Uh... is anyone home?" I asked as we walked out the door. She chuckled as she locked the front door.

"My mom was home for awhile, but she left like five minutes ago... she had to get to work."

"So you left him alone?"

"I know it sounds risky," she admitted. I opened the car door and got back in, and she opened the door in the back and began strapping her son in. "But what was I supposed to do, have her drop him off at a 5-minute daycare? I couldn't get out of school in time, and she had to leave."

She closed the door in the back and got into the driver's seat. "I know you probably think I'm a horrible mother, but... this isn't easy, you know."

"I'm sorry," was all I said.

She sighed again and started to back the car out of the driveway. "No, _I'm_ sorry. I'm not looking for pity or anything, I just... I don't know."

"How old is he?"

"Ten months."

"Can he understand us?"

She smirked. "He doesn't talk, but mom says he knows more than we think he does as far as what's going on."

I looked back at him. He had a huge spit bubble attached to his mouth, which didn't really encourage the idea that he would understand what I was about to say. "Do you mind if I ask... why you had him?"

She wasn't smiling anymore, and I felt guilty for bringing it up. But after a few seconds she said, "Well, I didn't really have a choice. When I started high school I got in with a party crowd, and... you make mistakes when you're drunk."

"But you could've had an abortion."

More awkward silence. I was getting used to it.

"No, I... I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I did that."

Ah, a moralist. I knew her kind, she was just like Cassie. Cassie would never consider an abortion. Actually, Cassie would never get pregnant in the first place.

"Did you know the guy?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I knew who he was. But we never really hung out or anything... we kinda traveled in different circles. You know Alex Harris?"

_That_ was funny.

Alex was the guy who'd passed Cassie the note. The controller who knew... something. If he was the father of Shannon's baby, what did that mean? Did it mean anything?

The lump in my throat was back. I was getting nervous.

"Y-yeah, I know who he is," I replied slowly.

_Calm down, Marco,_ I told myself. _Alex was probably not a Controller two years ago, otherwise he'd have no interest in getting drunk. And even if he did, being a Controller is not contagious. Just because he was doesn't mean she is._

"Yeah, definitely not my type. He's... too popular."

I was trying to snap out of Yeerk-fighting mode and pretend like I was normal for just two seconds. "Yeah, you guys seem really different."

"We are." Another hole of silence, then she smiled and took her eyes off the road for a moment to glance at me. "You like kids?"

"They're alright," I answered. "What's his name?"

"His name's Billy."

I turned in my seat and looked at him a second time. "Hi, Billy," I said. His eyes were huge. He just sat there and stared at me, spit bubble gone.

When I felt my cell phone vibrate, I turned back to face the front in my seat. She heard it vibrate and asked, "Who's that?"

I pulled it out of my pocket and looked. "My friend Jake," I replied as I opened it. It said, "Call me right now."

I sighed. He was freaking out, wondering where I was. It was like having a second mother. "I have to make a phone call," I said. She smirked, but didn't say anything. As a fellow joke cracker, I could only imagine what she wanted to say. Something about Jake and I being cute together, or him being a little overly jealous.

Whatever. If I didn't call, he'd think I was dead, so I dialed his number.

When he answered, he sounded panicked. "Marco, where are you?"

I sighed. "I'm fine, Jake."

"You're not at school?"

"No, I..." I'd never live it down if I told him I was with Shannon, but I couldn't lie with her in the car. "I'm with Shannon."

"Shannon?" he demanded. "What? I thought you didn't like her." I looked over at her to see if she heard him say that. If she did, she didn't react. "What are you doing?"

"I'm in her car."

"Where's she taking you?"

"The pediatrician. Her son's in the car."

"How do you _know_ you're going to the pediatrician?"

Shannon probably thought Jake was nuts at this point. She probably thought both of us were. Maybe rethinking that crush she had on me, too.

I decided to turn the conversation a little more normal. "Right, you wanted to study after school?"

Jake sighed on the other line. A loud, long sigh. "You are dead meat. Why did you take off without talking to me? Why didn't you tell Cassie? Why-"

"Yep, I'll meet you at Cassie's," I said. "Bye."

Hung up without another word. He could give me the third degree later, but not now. Not in front of Shannon.

"He sounded mad," she stated with a little bit of a smirk. "You guys must've had some serious plans."

"Heh, Jake's... he just likes to know everything that's going on, you know? That kind of person. When you do something spontaneously, he kinda freaks out."

Her eyebrows were raised. "I guess so."

"He just doesn't like it when plans are broken," I continued. She nodded, but didn't say anything. "We're not gay," I added without thinking.

Shannon laughed. "I wasn't going to say anything, but since you brought it up..."

"We're not," I vowed. "He has a girl, and I... am interested in many."

"He has a girl? Really? I've never heard of him having a girlfriend."

Oh, how would I ever explain this one... "Well, he's... interested in a specific girl. They're just shy."

"Really? Who is it?"

If Jake wasn't planning on killing me now, he definitely would if I told someone about him and Cassie. "I... don't think I should say," I replied. She nodded.

"Right. I'm sorry I asked." She paused for a minute, then said, "I heard what he said, that you don't like me."

"Jeez, Shannon, I'm sorry. He-"

"It's fine," she said quickly. "I don't care if you don't like me. I'm just wondering why you came with. You know you didn't have to."

"I wanted to," I insisted. Wow, she probably thought I was a complete jerk at this point. "Seriously. I'd like to get to know you."

_No! Marco, what are you doing? Are you flirting? Was that a line? Where are you leading this?_ I couldn't believe what I'd said. This was getting dangerously close to asking her out, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.

She was trying to hide a smile, but I could see it just barely peeking through her pursed lips. "You... really don't have to say that. It's okay."

"Jake doesn't know what he's talking about," I insisted. "When we saw you at the mall... I wanted you to come over, but I was too nervous, so I told_him_ to wave you over. I didn't talk much because I didn't want to say something stupid."

_You're being ridiculous,_ I told myself. _There's a fine line between being polite and lying. Stop now before you end up married._

"Really?" she asked.

"Really."

"But then why would he say you don't like me?"

Awkward silences didn't even phase me anymore. After letting it sit and thinking about the question, I replied with the only answer I could think of. "Jake's a little crazy, he doesn't know what he's talking about."

"That doesn't really answer the question."

I smirked. "Yeah, it does. If you knew how crazy he was, you'd understand."

There it was; she let the smile loose and it took up her entire face. She laughed a little and said, "Okay, if you're sure."

"Absolutely. I just have to be back at school by 3."

"No problem."


	5. The Note

A/N: I've been trying to upload this chapter _all night!_ I woulda had it up about 5 hours ago, but FFN is silly.

JAKE

"Jake, re-reading it isn't going to change anything."

I sighed and put my hand on top of Cassie's, which was on my shoulder, trying to calm me down. I was holding the note, reading it for the fourth time. I couldn't believe it. How could he have found out? And what did he want? I'd never felt so helpless before. All he had to do was tell Visser Three, and he could end the war. Yeerks win. Humans lose.

We'd faced bad odds before, but these were worse than bad. These were... impossible.

We were in the woods behind Cassie's barn. We just didn't feel safe at our normal meeting place, but it still had to be somewhere out of the way. In the note, Alex said we were safe for now. But how could we trust him?

Oh wait, that's right, we had no choice.

_Cassie Branch,_

_I know who you are. I know your connection with Jake and Rachel Berenson, Tobias Fangor, Marco Raines, and I know all about Aximili-Esgarroth-Isthil. I know you're the ones Visser Three is looking for, and I will report you without a second thought. You six will be infested, and then everyone you love. Don't try to hide at Erek King's house; I know about the Chee, too._

_The six of you are going to show up at a Yeerk hangar. It is far north from school, but if you follow Grove Street long enough – past the interstate, where 6__th__ intersects Grove – you can't miss it. You will all be in human form, even Tobias and Ax. If you attempt to morph (or if Tobias and Ax attempt to demorph), you will die. Be there at 4 AM Saturday morning. Sharp. I'm not forgiving._

_You could choose to run, but your addresses are in the school directory, and we will take every member of your family that we don't have already. Then we will tear the country apart until we find you._

_You are safe for now. Enjoy the rest of your week. Don't worry too much about homework. _

_-Alex_

"What could have happened?" I asked. "How could he know?"

"It would really only take one slip," Rachel replied. "After he knows who one of us is, he just has to follow us, and he knows everyone. And since Alex has gone to school with us for a couple years, he would have already known our last names."

"But Ax?"

"Sitting in on a meeting of ours?" she guessed. "He'd only have to sit right outside the clinic. Those walls aren't exactly the thickest things ever."

((She's right,)) Tobias said. ((It wouldn't be hard.))

"What did Marco say?" Cassie asked.

I sighed. "I don't know what he's doing. He said he was with Shannon; they're skipping school. But I have no idea when he'll be back, or where we can meet him."

"Who's Shannon?" she asked.

"I don't know. Some girl he's supposedly not interested in."

I waited for someone to ask what I meant, but nobody did. And after five more minutes of freaking out, my phone rang. It was Marco.

"Marco? Where are you?"

I heard him sigh on the other line. "Man, you need to calm down. She thinks you're crazy."

"I don't care what she thinks. You need to get over here so we can get this figured out."

"I wanna read it, believe me," he said. "But I don't know when I can get back."

"If they know who we are, we can't afford to-"

"Hey, I have to go, okay? Where are you?"

I hesitated. The thought of Yeerks listening in on the phone call passed quickly, however, as we had to meet Marco _somewhere_. I sighed and said, "We're in the woods by Cassie's house. We can meet you at the barn."

"What time is it?"

I looked at my watch. "Noon."

"Okay. I'll get there by one."

I didn't know how far away they were, but Cassie lives kind of in the middle of nowhere, and even if they were relatively close (which I would consider maybe 20 minutes away), I doubted they were going to leave all that soon. They'd probably just gotten there... wherever "there" was.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm in the bathroom at the doctor's. But I have to go now."

"Marco?"

"Yeah?"

"What's going on?"

He paused, and then replied, "Man, if I ever figure out anything involving women, I'll let you know."

He hung up, and so did I. I turned to look at Cassie, who was standing behind me, and shook my head. "He's a free spirit."

"Where is he?" Rachel demanded. She wasn't angry that he'd neglected what I considered an Animorph responsibility. She just hated waiting around.

I felt like an idiot just saying it. "He's... at the pediatrician."

"Can't he get a check up later?" Her eyes made it clear that she was definitely not joking. She was mad. And to be honest, I didn't know what to say to calm her down. I was just as frustrated, and had no words to make it better.

For about fifteen minutes the five of us discussed the various reasons Marco should be there (some, such as Ax and Cassie were more polite than others, such as Rachel and me). Eventually we decided to adjourn to Cassie's kitchen, where we could have a few snacks while waiting for Marco. She didn't have much, but we ended up drinking glasses of water or milk and sharing a bag of Fritos.

We saw a strange car pull into the gravel driveway and Marco got out. He said a few parting words to the driver, shut his door, and waved. We all stood up and made our way to the door. Cassie got there first and opened it. When Marco saw us, he smirked.

"Hey, guys!" he greeted.

"Nice to see you're in such a good mood," Rachel said. "While the rest of us have been living with the fear that a controller's going to pop out at any minute and shove a slug in our ears, you were out playing."

"Wow, Rachel, I missed you, too."

"Why didn't you tell Cassie you were going to take off?" I asked him.

Marco frowned. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I was supposed to check in with her every time I wanted to change locations."

"Don't get smart with me, Marco, you knew this was important."

He nodded and held out his hand. "Yeah, yeah, let me see this note."

I pulled it out of my back pocket and handed it to him. As Marco read, his eyes grew a little every second. When he was done he sighed and shook his head. "Wow. So, what do we have so far?"

"What?" I asked.

"A plan. We have a plan?"

I turned and looked back to Cassie's house. Her dad was home, but of course he couldn't hear us. Still, I didn't like talking about this stuff in the open, ever. I started to go into the woods and motioned for him to follow me.

"Um, right, are you saying we have nothing?"

"Basically, yes." Marco sped up and started walking next to me as we headed past the barn and into the woods. I looked at him and saw he had his game face on. I'd doubted him before, but it looked like he was ready for action. "We didn't talk about it much without you."

"I'm touched."

I smirked and shook my head. We reached a small clearing – the one we'd been at before – and all sat down in something that resembled a circle. Ax and Tobias started to demorph, and then Ax lay down in the circle and Tobias flew into a nearby tree. He could have stayed down here, but I think he was more comfortable in trees than in a clearing. Maybe the hawk mind was jumpy when it was standing on the ground in the open. I looked around at everyone.

"So?" I asked. "What does everyone think?"

((It's a trap,)) Tobias stated. ((Obviously.))

"I'm sure it is," I agreed. "But do you really suggest we not go?"

"We have to go," Marco stated clearly. "They'd find us."

_"He_'d find us," Rachel corrected. "From the way he talked, it sounds like he hasn't told anyone about us."

((Of course, he wouldn't,)) Ax said. ((Which do you think would please Visser Three more: information about the Andalites, or the Andalites themselves?))

"He's going to turn us in?" Cassie asked.

((I believe so. And he would probably not tell anyone else about it, in order that he may take all of the credit for finding us.))

"Why a hangar?" I asked. "Are we going somewhere? Visser Three's down here."

((Visser Three spends much of his time here, but he is not always on Earth,)) Ax replied. ((He may be somewhere else at the moment, or we may be delivered to someone else.))

"But we're not actually going to go, are we?" Rachel asked. "Not if it's a trap. We need to attack."

What day was it? I tried to think, and figured out it was Wednesday. So we had tomorrow and Friday to act. "Attack where?" I asked. "He probably expects us to show up at his house."

((We could do it at some odd hour of the night,)) Tobias suggested.

"No, no, no," Marco said, shaking his head. "He watches just as much TV as we do, and he'll expect us to do it that way. We need to do it a way he wouldn't expect because it's too expected."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Are you being serious, or stupid?"

"Half-serious. Look, he's not stupid. He knows we'll try some alternate way to get around his. He knows we'll try to hit him before Saturday."

"What if we did something at school?" Cassie asked. "Lots of people around. He wouldn't expect that."

"_And_ he wouldn't have any alien goons," Rachel added. "I like it."

"We also wouldn't be able to morph," I pointed out. "Not that I'm turning the idea down, I'm just saying."

"Four of us and one of him?" Rachel said. "We won't need to. Football players don't scare me."

"Tobias and Ax can be there, right?" I asked the two of them. I looked at Ax; I didn't know exactly where Tobias was anymore.

((Of course. You think we have plans?)) Tobias asked. ((I can take Ax-man to the school, no problem. What time?))

"When will we know where he'll be?" I asked.

"I have second period with him," Cassie said. "Marco and I both do. It's Spanish."

"So we can meet outside the Spanish room as soon as first period gets out and wait for him?" I asked. Everyone nodded.

"Are we gonna get suspended for this?" Marco asked me. "Because if my dad finds out I skipped school today, he's gonna be mad enough."

"We might get in trouble," I replied. "But it'll be worth it."

"We're going to starve the Yeerk?" Rachel asked.

"We should take him somewhere we won't be interrupted," I said. "Probably the bathroom. We can knock him out, and then take him back here."

((Do you really think this is going to work?)) Tobias asked skeptically.

"What's wrong with it?" I replied.

((Nothing, theoretically. But I have a hard time believing he'd send us this note a few days before Saturday without having a plan if we attacked. I'm sure he expects us to try some alternative before showing up at the hangar.))

"We have to try," Rachel insisted. "If he does have something... backup, whatever... we'll at least be able to escape. It's school, after all. Too many non-controllers around for them to whip out Hork-Bajir or something stupid."

I nodded. "Exactly. Besides, if Ax is right, Alex is the only one who knows about us. And the six of us will be able to take him, no problem."

((I just wanted to go on record as the one who called it,)) Tobias said.

I smirked. "Fair enough."

A/N: This morning I had a revelation of an even to happen in this fic, and it's going to be amazing. And DEFINITELY more twisted than the last now that I know what I'm doing.

SouthrnBelle: Jake knew about the note, and that's why he was freaking out about Marco being gone. He was paranoid about traps being set and such, now that they know a Yeerk knows their identity.

As for a title... it would help if I knew what yours was ABOUT. :p


	6. Billy

A/N: I wrote this and had it up for a bit, decided to change it, deleted it, and this is the new version. Just clearing that up, in case anyone read it and didn't review, and are now confused or whatever.

Senri – hopefully this gives a little insight into my twisted idea, but I don't want to spoil anything. I will go back and edit the part about the Yeerk home world; thanks for catching that!

SouthrnBelle: A hangar is an aircraft... storage... place. Car is to garage as airplane (or spaceship :p ) is to hangar. I have no idea why your church has one, though. Maybe it's a front for the Sharing...?

MARCO

Tobias called it. The plan didn't work.

Personally, I thought it was a decent plan. The only problem with it was that it would've been hard to drag a knocked out football player out of the school without getting in a little trouble. But it really should have worked, if not for the fact that Alex skipped school the next day. We should have known he wasn't going to be around now that we knew who he was. Now that we knew he knew who we were.

We stood outside the Spanish room like idiots ten minutes past the time class started, and he just didn't show. Cassie went into the office and said she had to find him, asking where he was. They told her he hadn't gotten to school yet.

"He knows we're after him," Tobias stated.

"Of course he does," I replied. "He's the one who set this in motion."

"What if the hangar isn't the real trap?" Jake asked. "What if he wants us to track him down? Some kind of cat-and-mouse thing?"

"We have no way to find him," Rachel pointed out. "Unless he's at his house, which I doubt, we have no idea where he could be."

We stared at our feet for awhile, and then Jake said, "Well, guys, I'm late for class."

"You mean we actually have to go to class today?" I asked.

"Unless you want to go to the pediatrician," Jake replied with a smirk.

Okay, that was below the belt. When I told him I wasn't interested in Shannon, I meant it. The only reason I had gone with her yesterday was because I wanted to get out of school, and Jake should have known that. I punched him in the shoulder.

"Unfair, man," I said.

Rachel and Cassie were giggling. I didn't care.

"You seem sensitive about her," Jake noted with a smirk. I raised my fist again.

"Don't push it."

He laughed and shook his head. "Come on, guys, let's get to class."

"What are we going to do about Alex?" Tobias asked. "Are we giving up?"

Jake paused and considered. "Let's meet at Cassie's today after school. Okay?"

"Can we make it 6-ish?" Rachel asked. "I have gymnastics practice today. I can skip if I have to, but I'd rather not."

Jake nodded. "Sure, 6 is fine."

We went our separate ways... everyone to their own class or forest, as the case may be. It was too bad Alex was gone today. I really had been looking forward to skipping classes two days in a row.

After school I had time to kill, so I decided to take a walk. I'm not normally the kind of guy who goes on walks alone, but I did have a lot on my mind. I was sure Jake would have been willing to hang out till the meeting, but I really didn't feel like being around anyone at the moment. Well, anyone except one specific person, that is.

Somehow I ended up at her house.

She lived fairly close to the school; maybe ten blocks away. I didn't mean to walk there, but it just kind of happened. And, as fate saw fit, I was walking by just as her car pulled into the driveway.

Great. Now I look like a stalker.

I kept on walking past, but she got out of her car and called to me. I was a little past the driveway when I heard, "Hey! Marco!" I turned around, acting like I hadn't noticed that she drove right in front of me.

"Oh, hey Shannon," I replied with a smile. I had to act happy to see her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just out for a walk. It's a nice day."

She nodded as we walked towards each other. "Yeah, it is. Do you want to come in and hang out?"

"Sure!"

What was I doing? I couldn't believe it. That had to be the forth time I'd agreed to something that I didn't mean to with her. I was leading her on. This had to stop. I was leading her on... right? Or did my subconscious have an attraction to her that the rest of me was unaware of?

This had never happened to me before. If I wasn't interested in someone, I had no problem letting them know. How come I suddenly lost control of my words whenever I was with her? She was unlike any girl I'd ever seen.

_Stop it, Marco,_ I told myself. _Stop everything. Stop thinking that way, and stop telling this girl lies. You are not interested._

"How was studying last night?" she asked me as we approached her front door.

"It was alright," I replied.

"What subject?"

Of course, I said the first one that popped into my head. And of course, that was the only one that mattered at the moment... the one with Alex. "Spanish."

We went into her kitchen and she got some glasses out. "You're fluent in Spanish, right?"

I laughed as she opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of water. "Definitely not. I probably know about as much Spanish as you do."

"But... I thought..."

I nodded. "I know. I'm hispanic and my name is Marco. But I got that all from my mom. She was from South America. But my dad doesn't speak Spanish, and my mom learned English and almost always spoke it to me... unless I was in serious trouble."

She smiled and set a glass down in front of me. "That's really cool."

"That I don't speak Spanish?"

She laughed. "No, about your mom. That you were exposed to another culture from the time you were born. I think that's good for people."

"Yeah, maybe."

"She must be really interesting."

I took a sip of the ice-cold water in order to stall, trying to figure out if I should tell her about my mom's "death" or not. On one hand, it would be weird to pretend like she was still around. On the other, bringing up death could make this conversation sufficiently awkward.

But in the end, I couldn't pretend like she was still around.

"Yeah, she was. But she's actually dead now."

Shannon raised her eyebrows. "Really? I'm so sorry."

"Nah, don't worry about it."

She looked off to the side, down at the floor. She was avoiding eye contact. "My... my dad's dead."

Yeah. Awkward.

I didn't know what I should say, so I just said what I knew any decent person would say. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. He died when I was really young, so I don't remember him much. Do you remember your mom?"

I wanted to say no. It would have made this so much easier.

I only talk about my mom with people who know what happened. That's because I only talk about her in a light manner, like when dad and I had been joking during the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. That's because I don't do well in deep conversations. I can be serious, but serious and deep are two totally different things. "Serious" is "okay, let's figure out how to kill Alex." "Deep" is "tell me all the memories and secrets you have of a dear relative who passed away." I don't work well with the last one.

"Um, yeah, I do," I replied. "It was a few years ago. Boating accident."

"My dad was in a car crash."

There it was again. The awkward silence. Why do I put myself in these situations? How hard would it have been to tell her, "no, I would not like to come in, I'm going somewhere. Also, I don't like you." That was easy enough. But was there a reason I kept on ending up in these situations with her?

_You're doing it again,_ I thought. _You're making it seem like this is some big, sweet romance story. It's not. She's just some chick from school, so quit thinking she's your destiny, and get out of this place._

And what do you know? A break in the action. Out the window I saw a black Escalade pulled into her driveway, and first-string football runningback number 37 popped out.

"Alex Harris," I said quietly. Shannon turned in her chair and looked out the window.

"Great," she muttered. "I'm sorry in advance you have to see this."

I stood up first, but then she followed my lead and walked to the front door. Just as she reached it, the doorbell rang and she opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I'm here for Billy. You said I could take him this weekend."

_Don't see me, don't see me, don't see me..._

"Marco?"

I looked him in the eye and smirked nervously. Had Alex been a tiny freshman, I probably would have knocked him out and dragged him to Cassie's right then, ignoring what Shannon thought. But he was a big guy, and I probably don't have to tell you that I'm definitely not.

"H-hey," I muttered.

"Marco!" He acted like we were old buddies, with a huge grin on his face. Alex and I had been going to school since freshman year, but we never hung out. I just knew his name because he was on the football team, and he knew my name because he was... well, stalking me.

"You guys know each other?" Shannon asked.

_Yeah, he's trying to kill me and my five closest friends. He also threatened my family._

"Oh, yeah, kinda," I replied. "But it's been awhile since we've hung out."

"How are you?" Alex asked me. He was enjoying this way too much. He was seriously smiling from ear-to-ear, because he knew that I was able to morph something and kill him, but he also knew I wouldn't. I was more powerful than him overall, but right now, at this very moment, he had the power. And he was savoring it.

"I'm fine," I replied stiffly. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good," he answered. He looked back a Shannon and his grin lessened a little, but it was still there. "What's going on here?"

"We were just hanging out," she replied. He looked back at me, as though for confirmation. But I was sick of the whole "Marco + Shannon love" thing, and definitely not in the mood to deal with his crap on top of Jake's.

"Just hanging out," I confirmed. He smirked, like he didn't really believe it, but he looked back to Shannon. He lowered his voice, like I wasn't supposed to hear, but I was really only a few feet behind her, so he must have known I heard everything.

"You're seeing someone?" he asked quietly.

Shannon shook her head. "No, not really, we're just friends."

"Uh-huh." Then he lifted his head and looked around. "So, where's Billy?"

"You said you're going out of town this weekend," she said, somewhat defensively.

Out of town? Try out of planet.

"I was going to take him with," Alex replied. "My family wants to meet him."

"Where are you going?" I asked Alex in a conversational tone, just to grill him.

"My uncle's, for my grandparents' fiftieth anniversary," he answered with ease. He was a good liar. "Everyone knows about the infamous Billy, but nobody's seen him before. I want to show him off."

Why was Alex taking Billy? It didn't make sense to me. Was he planning on bringing Billy on the ship? Why? He must've been planning on leaving the kid here. But then, who would he leave him with? And why did he want him this weekend?

"I'll go get him," Shannon said. "You have clothes and stuff for him, right?"

"I just need a bottle," Alex replied. She nodded and walked down the stairs.

His giant I-can't-wait-to-kill-you smile returned and he walked up to me, close, trying to intimidate. The truth was that it was working, but I couldn't show it. I reminded myself that, with the morphing power, I _was_ the more powerful man, here. I was just unable to use that power, but he couldn't scare me. I could rip him apart if I wanted to. I could morph gorilla and smack his head so hard it would roll across the kitchen floor, and he must have known that. The problem was, at the moment, he was over a head taller than me, and he was also more muscular.

"You have plans this weekend, too, I hear?" he asked me.

"Yeah, me and some friends are going out to eat," I replied. "We're having _slug_."

Alex chuckled. "Oh really? You know, my host doesn't have many feelings left for her, but I will use it as an excuse to kill you if you get too close."

"Bring it on, worm-boy."

"You're just lucky Shannon's here to protect you, or you'd already be dead."

"Let's see if you talk that big when you have a 500-pound gorilla in front of you."

"I can't wait."

When Shannon started walking back up the stairs with Billy, Alex backed away from me quickly. But she had seen him standing over me and gave us both a strange look. "Is everything okay?" she asked slowly.

"Everything's fine," Alex replied, holding out his hands. "Give him to me."

She carefully handed Alex the baby and then quickly walked into the kitchen. "I'll get you that bottle," she said.

Alex smirked at me, but didn't say anything else. She would have been able to hear it. She came back, handed him the bottle, and smiled. "There you go. He had a checkup yesterday, and everything's fine."

Alex nodded. "Good. I'd hate for him to get sick on the trip."

I would have tried to think of something witty, but I was too busy trying to figure out why Alex would demand Billy for the weekend he's flying into outer space. What, did he want junior there to see daddy's promotion?

"Have fun," Shannon said. "And bring him back in one piece."

Alex smiled and nodded. "I will." Then he looked to me. "It was nice seeing you again, Marco. Enjoy what's left of your week." I knew he meant to say "what's left of your life."

"Yeah, you, too," I replied, wishing I could think of some kind of cool threat that Shannon wouldn't pick up on. He chuckled again and went out the door.


	7. Talk

In five years, after we've won the war and we reveal ourselves as Earth's saviors, I'll be on Letterman. And he'll say, "So, Marco, what was the hardest part about being an Animorph?" And, because it's Letterman, I'll say, "Putting up with Rachel," or maybe, "Lack of health benefits."

If I were on Oprah and she asked the same question, I would probably say, "Hork-Bajir, and Visser Three's crazy alien morphs on crack."

But if I was going to be completely honest with myself, the hardest part about being an Animorph is my dad.

I'm closer to my dad than any other living, breathing thing in the universe. Jake is like my brother, but he's not blood, and there are things about me that he doesn't understand. I know he'd support me and stand by me until the end of the world, but my dad's the only person in the world who really, truly _gets_ me. And lying to him killed me the first few times, and sometimes it still does.

When I got home, he knew something was bothering me. It was 4:00, so I had a couple hours till I had to leave for the meeting. And the question of the night was what I was going to tell Jake. I was sure that Alex taking Billy was important somehow. It had to be. Why else would he insist on taking him this weekend? Billy had something to do with Alex's plan.

But another part of me didn't want to, for a lot of reasons.

I didn't want to admit I'd been at Shannon's house. I also didn't want to reveal a lot of information about her, such as the fact that she's the mother to Alex's kid. Why not? Well, it's simple, really. I knew personal information about her, and when you know personal information about someone of the opposite sex, people figure you're serious. They figure you're dating.

Also, I felt stupid bringing it up. What if it was just useless information? I didn't know what Alex was going to do with the kid, so the fact that he was bringing him didn't tell us much. If I knew what he was doing, I'd definitely let Jake know, but I could see Jake's reaction as a raised eyebrow, a shrug, and a "so?"

But maybe it was important. And if it was important, I should share. Right?

And finally, the fact that I was going to lose my freedom on Saturday and become a Controller, and probably eventually lead to my dad's own infestation, kinda stressed me out.

"Marco, are you okay?"

_Man, dad, do I ever wish I could tell you..._

I didn't know how to reply. Of course I wasn't okay. I was about the farthest from okay I'd ever been. But he wouldn't understand unless I told him everything. And if I told him everything, he wouldn't believe me. So, my life was reduced to petty lies. But what kind of lie could I tell that would actually come close to the truth?

"No, not really," I admitted. There was no point to lying; he would know.

I was sitting on the couch watching some basketball game... I didn't even know who was playing. To be honest, I wasn't watching. He brought two bowls over to me, one with chili cheese dip and another with chips. He set them down on the table and then sat down next to me.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, there's this girl."

Dad laughed. "The redhead on TV?"

_I wish._

"No, the opposite," I replied. "She has short, black hair. Her name's Shannon."

Dad reached for a chip. "Shannon, huh? Is she your age?"

"Yeah. I didn't really like her at first, but I don't know... I keep on ending up in situations with her, and I can never say no when she asks me to hang out, even if I want to."

"Why would you want to?" he asked simply.

Funny, I didn't know. I considered his question for awhile. I didn't know _why_ I didn't want to hang out with her, I just didn't. Was it really because I didn't like her?

I suddenly had a realization. All this time I thought I didn't like her, and that's why I didn't want to hang out with her. But now I knew that I actually did like her, and I had just convinced myself that I didn't want to hang out with her. But I really did, I just didn't want to admit it.

"I guess I... I don't want to admit I like her," I finally said slowly. He picked up the remote, muted the game, and looked at me. I didn't look back, but I felt his stare.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because of what it could mean, I guess," I answered. "I mean, what it could lead to. This may shock you, pops, but I've never been in a relationship. I don't know what to do."

"It's different with everyone," he replied. "Things will progress differently with one girl than the next. You just have to trust your intuition." I looked at him and he smirked at me. "And I _know_, if you're anything like your old man, you have great intuition when it comes to women."

I chuckled. Yeah, I wasn't bad. "Oh, man," I muttered. "I don't know if I'm ready."

"What to know a secret?"

"Yeah."

He leaned forward and grabbed another chip, stalling, keeping me in suspense for a little while longer. "People are only ready for something the second time around. The first is always a gamble." He popped it in his mouth and chewed, and when he was done with the chip he added, "And if this girl likes you back, she'll understand that and forgive a few slip-ups."

_Thanks, but what should I do about the father of her child who took the kid for some kind of weekend plot to kill me and my friends?_

I forced a smile. I didn't feel any better. "Thanks," I said.

"Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine."

He smirked. "It's good to see you going after real women."

I pretended to be more offended than I was, and demanded in a raised voice, "What's that supposed to mean?"

He laughed, but amidst his laughter he added, "Well, maybe if you get a girlfriend you'll leave the house now and then."

A/N: Sorry it was short, but I didn't see the point in dragging out this conversation. Also, the reason I didn't update for awhile was because my internet got shut down. Finals is next week. I might get another update in by the end of this week, but if it's not up by Friday night, you'll have to wait till at least Tuesday. Sorry. Busy weekend.

xxtigergirlxx – it's Thursday in the story, so they have "tonight" to act, or Friday. They better figure something out fast:p Megababy... lol, I like it, but it's not what I had in mind. :p

But Alex IS going to use Billy in his plan, and it's going to be amazing. I can't wait to write it. :-)


	8. Telling the Group

I showed up at 6:15. I'd forgotten how long it takes to walk to Cassie's house. Flying is just easier and faster. I don't have to leave as early. It also used to be a ton of fun, but after awhile you get used to it and it's just another way to move around. When I'm frustrated with the Animorph life, sometimes I pretend like I don't even have the option of morphing. I walk when I could fly.

I wonder if the others ever do that, too. If they do, they leave earlier, because they were all there when I arrived, and looking comfortable.

"Where have you been?" Jake asked me. He was standing, which I think made him feel cool. He didn't always stand; only when he was too worried to relax.

"I lost track of the time," I replied. "What's the plan?"

Jake sighed and I noticed Rachel shaking her head. "We don't have much. He's probably hiding, and we won't be able to find him."

"Oh, he's around," I replied, faster than I meant to. Suddenly, I had everyone's absolute attention. "I might have seen him today," I admitted under their stares.

"You saw him?" Jake demanded. "Where? Why didn't you get us?"

"Because by the time you got there he would have been gone," I said.

"Where did you see him?" Cassie asked me.

"I... was just walking around and I saw him," I replied. _Wow, I really am just a big chicken,_ I thought. "It was around school."

"I never saw him anywhere near school," Jake said. He wasn't doubting what I said, he was just confused. He wanted more details, details I wasn't willing to give.

"It was a few blocks away," I said. "I went for a walk afterwards to chill, and I saw him on the sidewalk. He's excited to see us on Saturday."

"Did he say anything else?" Jake asked.

"Let's see... he can't wait to kill me, um..." I tried to remember other bits of conversation. "His cover is that he's going to his grandparents' fiftieth anniversary out of town this weekend."

"That's not incredibly helpful," Jake stated.

I didn't really want to tell them about Billy, but the word slipped out before I could help it. "Well..."

"What else?" Jake prodded.

"He... might or might not be taking a 10-month old baby on the ship."

Jake raised his eyebrows, but Rachel was the first person to speak. "What?" she demanded. I looked over at her and for some reason, she looked furious. "How do you know _that_?"

I looked over at the cages of animals, avoiding eye contact with everyone. My love life was not the kind of thing I liked to disclose. It didn't bother me if people knew something, like if I went out on a date somewhere. I just didn't like to talk about it. Especially not when I knew I was going to get crap from Jake, and probably Rachel.

"Well... I was at Shannon's house," I admitted. "And Alex came over. He's the father of her kid, and he insisted he take him for this weekend."

"Are you serious?" Jake demanded. He was amazed at the story. His surprise probably started at the fact that I was _at _her house in the first place, and ended in a mass of shock mixed with confusion at why Alex would take the kid.

"Nope, made it all up."

He sighed. "We really don't have time for this."

"I know!" I answered. "That's why I'm telling you what I know."

"What do you think he's doing?"

"How should I know?"

"Are you sure he's bringing the kid on the ship?" Cassie asked me.

"I'm pretty sure. He made a point of taking him _this_ weekend, and said it was because he was going out of town."

"That's really interesting," Jake said, his hand up by his mouth. "I can't figure out..."

I don't think it's going to be easy to anticipate his plan, Tobias said. I think we should focus more on how to find him tomorrow. If Marco saw him, he's still around. We originally thought he might have gone a few hours away, but since he saw him today, we know he's still here... somewhere.

"Are you suggesting we sweep the town looking for him?" Rachel asked. "That would never work."

I don't know. All I'm saying is, we know he's close.

Jake sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't know where to begin. Me neither. How were we supposed to come at this one? It was way too open-ended. Act now, act later? When? Do we act at all?

"I don't think we could find him," Cassie said.

"No, I don't think we could," Jake agreed. He turned and looked at me with a little bit of frustration in his eyes. "I really wish you would have told me when you saw him," he said.

I didn't reply. He knew how ridiculous that would have been, and it was a worthless argument, anyways. Instead of trying to rationalize, I just leaned back against the rotting wooden wall and stared back at him expectantly.

"But what's done is done," he finished. "Okay, fine, we're just going to meet him."

"With a plan," Cassie added.

"Of course."

"But he knows how many of us there are," Rachel said. "So nobody can show up in a non-human form."

My mind flew to the first person we could enlist. "What about Erek? He could hologram us and make us look like we're in human form, then when it's right, we drop the hologram and kill him."

"Too much could go wrong getting Erek involved with this since he can't fight," Cassie stated.

"And he knows about Erek," Jake added.

"What were you doing at Shannon's house?" Rachel finally demanded of me, leaning forward in her seat and staring at me intensely.

"Hey," I replied. "Since when do I have to answer to you?"

"Are you dating her?"

Like the only reason I would possibly be at her house is if we were dating? Give me a break. I was slowly coming to terms with the fact that yeah, okay, maybe I liked her. But just because a guy is at someone's house doesn't mean there's romantic interest there. She was jumping to conclusions involving matters that were none of her business.

"This is ridiculous," I replied. "I don't have to answer that. Listen, we're in the middle of a meeting if you didn't notice-"

She smirked. "How cute."

"Will you let it go already?"

I stopped glaring at her for just a second and let my eyes drift over to Jake. He was trying really hard not to crack up. "This is all your fault, general."

"I know," he replied with a grin.

I rubbed my hands together. "So now what? Nothing? Let's think of a plan."

A/N: I know I went MIA forever... please forgive me! I'm totally picking this story up again, same deal as last time, I will try not to go more than a week without an update. Ready for the rest of the story? :D


	9. Aglifi

A/N: In the words of Monty Python, "and now for something completely different!"

The Yeerk was careful with the Andalite bandits, as he was expecting them. He was not, however, expecting me.

My name is Aglifi-Frodlin-Eerak. I had been on the planet Earth for about a month now. The fact that I was here investigating the potentially threatening Yeerk presence was a bit of a secret, even to my own tightly-knit race. Prince Breeyar – who to me, was more than my Prince – had personally selected me for the job. Unfortunately our crew viewed his actions as more of a favor to me than an honor, as it was rumored that we had been romantic with each other. And yes, I won't deny that something happened between us, but the rumors got out of hand and were not entirely true.

But I remembered his eyes very clearly when he told me I would be going to Earth for this mission, 86 light-years away. At first, yes, I was quite honored that he'd chosen me. But the more I considered the matter, and the more often I remembered those deep, serious eyes, I felt a sharp pain inside my hearts. It felt like he was trying to get rid of me. As though without my presence on his ship, what happened between us would just fade away. Everyone else would forget about it and take his role more seriously. But would he forget it, too?

_Focus, Aglifi,_ I told myself. I saw Garizon very clearly. I'd morphed an insect native to the Andalite home-world, as the Earth insects were often problematic. They usually had horrible senses; they did not see or hear like they should have. That was, at least, what Breeyar had told me prior to my coming here. I had not acquired any of them yet. I didn't see the point.

Garizon sat on a wooden crate, tapping one foot, then the other, as though he had some kind of song stuck in his head. Funny how... _normal_ Controllers could seem. But I suppose it wouldn't be out of the question for Yeerks to also enjoy music. For them to like some songs more than others, have favorites, have undesirables as well. But he seemed so human. How long had he been with this host?

I heard the Andalite bandits approaching. They were so loud and clumsy in their human morphs. When they arrived, Garizon smiled at them. I flew over to the ship and landed on the ramp, just to be ready for takeoff.

The Andalites did not struggle much, which embarrassed me a bit. If a war prince had seen this, they could have served time in prison for cowardice. Though it was clear that these bandits really were "bandits" in the truest sense; they were not supported in any way by the rest of our race. Nobody had sent them here. Nobody in our home world even knew who they were, or at least they would not claim such knowledge. Maybe they hadn't elected a prince among themselves. That would be rare – each fighting group must have a leader – but since they were basically vigilantes, who could be sure?

Their steps vibrated the ramp as they walked up into the ship. I knew they had a plan – no Andalite would give up just like that – but I was surprised with how far they were willing to go. If there was ever a time to act, it was right now, before we took flight. Once they let Garizon put them away into cells, it would be too late. But their prince, if they had one, disagreed with me.

I crawled up the ramp as it began to close. There was already someone else in the ship. I knew who he was. Scallin, one of the few remaining Gedd-controllers. I marveled at Garizon's choice for a crewman. The Gedd were practically worthless in this time of Hork-Bajir controllers, and even human-controllers. Maybe Garizon had not told Scallin of his plan. Maybe he was afraid that once Scallin found out, he would attempt to overthrow his captain.

I would have to remember that in the future.

But for now, I listened to the Andalites' pathetic attempts at using what they considered human vernacular.

"Hey man, where exactly are we going?" the short one asked. "I was planning on shooting hoops tomorrow afternoon-ish. Can we make it, or should I postpone?"

"Do you always babble when you're scared?" Garizon asked him. He had each of the Andalites in what the humans call "handcuffs." They are metallic circles that tighten around the wrist of a human so that they are unable to pull their hands – much larger than their wrists – through the circle. They bind the hands together and inhibit the human's movement. Of course, they could have simply demorphed, but I assumed there was much more going on here than what I saw. My eyesight was decent, but I was still a very small creature, so my perspective was not what I was used to.

"Who's scared?" the short one replied. "You're the one who didn't make plans for tomorrow."

"Oh, I have plans," Garizon answered. "Believe me."

Scallin entered, slowly. The Gedd, like the humans, had only one heart, so they had almost no endurance in comparison with the superior design of an Andalite body. He was breathing deeply, and spoke only after catching his breath. "Everything ready," he said simply.

MARCO

My mom had a slight Latino accent her entire life. Still did. But that's because her first language was Spanish, so she was so used to pronouncing certain letters certain ways. In theory, she could one day speak without that accent. In theory. But it is so hard to break the habits learned since infancy, that it might as well be impossible. The important thing, though, is that there's no _physical_ difference between the way my mom is and the way I am to explain the differences in the words we pronounce. It's all mental. It's just a matter of habits.

You cannot imagine what it's like to hear an "accent" that is caused by a physical difference. The only things we've ever heard speak are humans, and all humans are formed the same. But aliens speak with sounds we aren't physically capable of making, and omit sounds that we consider so basic. That's why it's a crazy experience to hear an alien talk.

I'd gotten used to the Hork-Bajir, okay, but the Gedd was another story.

We'd seen them before, so we recognized him more or less. 'Bout 3 feet tall, monkey-like all hunched over, yellowish, slow, squinty eyes. Yep, it was the Gedd all right. But I'd only heard them speak on an incredibly minimal basis.

"Everything ready," the Gedd said with his crazy, inexplicable accent. Alex nodded to him.

"Well, take off, then," he replied with a little bit of impatience. "I'll be there in a few minutes to check the life-form information."

"What information?" Rachel demanded. I don't know why she bothered asking, but then, I probably would have if she hadn't.

"You guys have a tendency to be cute even when the odds are against you," he answered. "I just want to make sure you're not going to do anything stupid."

Seconds later, everything went black.

A/N: I'm actually not sure about the Gedd speaking. I know that they have names, so I figured they gotta be able to speak if they have names. That was an assumption, though. I know they're slow and stupid, but with a Yeerk inside his brain, the Yeerk should be able to get out some intelligent-sounding things, right?


	10. 12 Life Forms

A/N: Haha wow, it really is the 21st century! I mention a new character who got jiggy with a prince, and you guys assume they're gay! :p Aglifi is a girl, sorry if that wasn't clear enough. I'm just old-fashioned, thought the romance between Aglifi and a prince would imply she's a girl.

SouthrnBelle – Aglifi's job is basically to report to the Andalites exactly what's going on on Earth so they can decide if it's worth it to step in on the Yeerk invasion. She learned about the Andalite bandits because Visser Three wouldn't shut up about them.

tigergirl – Hmm, I don't know, WILL Aglifi help them? That maybe depends on if she thinks they're Andalites or if she finds out they're just a bunch of humans, a nothlit, and an aristh. Hmm...

AGLIFI-FRODLIN-EERAK

Life form information. I knew what he meant. He had a sensor on board that would tell him exactly how many life forms were aboard the ship, which could potentially be a problem for me. But as long as I stayed out of sight, what could he do? Even if he knew someone else was aboard, as long as he couldn't find me, all he would be left to do is worry. Perhaps put extra security around the bandits, but that didn't matter. I had plenty of time to figure out how to get around it, and if it proved too dangerous, I could leave them.

There was only one problem with that. Andalites don't do well as controllers, and that was no doubt what Garizon planned on doing to them. Killing them would be a waste; they would be infested. And then all of our Andalite knowledge would be in the hands of the Yeerks. Though it was not technically my job to intervene, it would be a shame if I didn't.

But I would decide later.

When Garizon saw the results of the scan, he furrowed his human eyebrows. "Me... my host, Scallin and his, and 6 of them." He paused thoughtfully. "And the child." Another pause. "And one unaccounted for."

Child? There was a child on board? Of what species? Whose child was it? And why was it here?

"Twelve forms," Garizon muttered. He pulled out a piece of paper and started scribbling notes. "Six of them... us four, and the child." Frowned.

I landed in the corner and scrunched myself back into it as far as my insect body would allow me. There was a bit of trimming for the wall over me. There was no way he would spot me now, unless he got down on all fours and really searched. But he had no indication the twelfth life form was in this room. It would be a ridiculous assumption.

He was still mumbling to himself. "Wouldn't detect androids," he stated. "Could the child be a contr- no, no, that's ridiculous. No Yeerk would infest a child that young. He's useless." Garizon turned around and looked about the room, nervous. After a second, I heard his true voice – the Yeerk's voice.

((I know you're here, and you will regret boarding,)) he vowed, broadcasting.

I considered responding, as thought-speak is untraceable and would not give away my location. However, if I did that, he would know that a female Andalite was aboard. If I said nothing, he may eventually wonder if the scanner was incorrect, or perhaps that an Earth insect had climbed aboard by mistake. It was much better to remain anonymous.

Garizon set the paper down and walked out of the room. I wanted to look at what he'd written, but there was no time. I had to follow him. I could read it later, but I had to hear what he said to Scallin to get as much information about what was going on as possible.

He entered the control room and I flew in just before the automatic doors closed. I landed on the floor and curled up against the wall once again. Scallin was there, preparing the ship for takeoff.

"Someone's here," Garizon told him. "Be careful."

Scallin nodded. In the muffled Gedd speech, he asked, "Do you want me to check on the child?"

"Yes. I'll take care of things here."

"Are they unconscious?"

"Yes, they are all contained. But be careful – the Andalite demorphed. As did the nothlit."

A nothlit! How was that possible? How could he demorph? I considered the situation and realized that really, a nothlit being part of the bandit group made perfect sense. They were outcasts to society. It only made sense that he would flee the home world to fight the Yeerks in his own way. But a morphing nothlit? How had he accomplished that?

And did Garizon say... "_the_ Andalite?"

No time to figure out what it all meant. I hopped on Scallin's foot as he passed by and rode with him out the door, down the hall, and into a very small storage room. There was a human cradle inside which took up almost all of the space in the room. Inside the cradle, a baby human.

It was cute, in an odd sort of way. I still wasn't used to the way humans looked, and the baby was stranger yet. It was like a mini-human, I suppose, but with less hair, a scrawnier neck, and a fatter stomach. It looked so disproportional. Did all human babies look like this?

It began to stir. It made a few small noises as Scallin prepared milk for it. He dropped into the bottle a circular pill, about the size of the human quarter, which began to dissolve and make the white milk a sort of pastel orange color. He shook the bottle slightly, smiled, and approached the baby.

At seeing an alien face, which humans are not accustomed to, the child began to cry.

"Don't cry, baby," Scallin said, lacking affection. "You're going to help us."


	11. Baby Finger

MARCO

MARCO

I woke up with a monster headache. My first thought? _Great, a cell._

I figured I should look around, survey the situation, figure something out like who's where and what the best chance of escape was. But I decided time wasn't of much essence, so I just laid lazily on the floor for a few moments until I heard something very alarming. A baby cry.

My head snapped up and I listened carefully. Though, it's not like there are many sounds similar to crying babies. There was no mistaking it. I stood up and approached a transparent wall that I guessed was made of energy or something else advanced that aliens use and humans don't. I didn't feel like touching it. It might hurt. But whatever it was, it didn't inhibit sounds in any way.

Across from me, I saw Cassie through both our transparent walls in her own cell, standing like I was, looking around for the voice's source. But soon, it was gone.

"Marco," she said. "You were right."

I nodded. "Though I wouldn't have minded being wrong."

"Wow, there's a baby on this ship. What do you think Alex is going to do with him?"

"If this were TV he'd need it to power some kind of machine," I replied. "That's what happened in X-men, anyways."

She smirked, a kind of sad nice-try-at-being-funny-but-I'm-not-in-the-mood-to-laugh smirk. When she didn't say anything, I just kept going.

"Or that classic movie 'Waterworld.' Did you ever see that one? Kid had a map tattooed on her back."

"Something tells me that's not it, either."

I took a look around, as the movie theories were clearly going nowhere. In the cells, Jake was next to my left and Rachel was across from him, next to Cassie. Tobias was to my right and I didn't actually see Ax. He should have been across from Tobias, maybe, but instead there was a hallway there. I couldn't see if he was on the other side of Tobias or not.

"Hey, you see Ax?" I asked Cassie. She looked around.

"No, I don't see him anywhere," she answered.

I frowned. Where could he be? And why wasn't he with the rest of us? Had he demorphed? How long had it been? Tobias was in his hawk form. I don't know when he managed that, but it was a good thing. No telling how much time had passed since we were out.

The Gedd came into view and looked around at all the cells. When his eyes passed over me, I could have sworn he stopped and looked at me a couple extra seconds. I mean, _dead_ in my eyes. I didn't like it at all.

"What?" I demanded of him.

He smiled a little, but didn't say anything.

"Hey, I'm talking to you," I snapped. Why not tough-talk a slow, stupid alien? He couldn't do anything to me. "What are you looking at?"

"You want to see the child?" he asked me. I frowned. After a pause, he asked again, "The baby, you know the one. _Billy._"

The smirk on my face completely disappeared. There was just something about the way that evil alien used the defenseless baby's name that infuriated me. I glared at him intensely now. I wasn't playing tough guy anymore. This was serious.

"Where is he?" I asked.

The Gedd smirked and slowly walked away. I yelled "hey!" as I ran into the transparent wall separating him and I, and got knocked backwards square on my ass. The Gedd was gone.

I looked at Cassie. "What do you think...?"

She looked like she was concentrating on something. A faint noise. "He's coming back," she murmured, so softly I almost couldn't hear her. I had to rely on her lip movement to fill in the sounds that were hushed.

She was right, more or less. Alex appeared from around the corner carrying a silent baby. Billy wasn't asleep, but he was calm.

He was a cute kid, I had to admit. A little on the chubby side, which he could have gotten from Alex. Not that Alex was chubby, but he was a large guy. His baby was going to be a linebacker someday, I could already see it. But Billy had Shannon's huge, dark-brown, almost black eyes and brown hair. Well, Shannon's was black, but Billy's was fairly dark for a baby and maybe it would get darker. It definitely wasn't Alex's dirty blond.

But his face was what got me. He was so innocent, sitting there in daddy's arms. He had no idea who his "father" was, or what was really going on here. He didn't know the danger he was in, or the fact that he was part of a very big plan that involved our demise. And of course he didn't know – couldn't even have understood – the fact that daddy was no longer daddy at all.

I didn't really know Alex. I knew who he was. He never came across as a fantastic guy to me, but who knew? I had to hand it to him, he might have been fairly decent. Paying child support, keeping in contact with the kid. Maybe he had been trying to do the right thing. Maybe he'd changed for the better when his son was born. But the Yeerk in his head had none of it. He paid child support because he had to, kept in contact so he wouldn't look suspicious. While Alex, the person, might have only had the best intentions, the Yeerk was only trying to get by.

Billy couldn't make that distinction.

Alex looked over to Cassie, who looked like she was about to cry. He held the baby in plain view for her and I to see, and took out from his belt a shiny, incredibly pointed knife.

Cassie gasped a little, but I just watched in horror as he brought it closer and closer to his son. Part of me thought, _there's no way he'll do it._ But the other part thought he looked pretty convincing.

Billy struggled a little. He started to make a very small weeping sound, dread, as the knife got closer. When its cold steel touched his skin, he let out a real cry.

And when Alex sliced off one of his tiny baby fingers, he wailed with everything he had.

I watched in horror as the finger fell to the floor, tiny bits of baby blood dripping after it from Billy's 4-finger hand. His screaming was so loud and so shrill that it hurt my ears, but I couldn't bring myself to cover them. The truth was, I couldn't move.

The sickest thing was Alex's smirk afterward. He looked at Cassie, who had her hand to her mouth and tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe it, either.

"Don't ever think," he said, slowly walking towards her, "that I will hesitate to do it again. Or worse. Next it may be a hand, an arm... a _head._"

She sobbed, but I couldn't hear it over Billy's continual wailing. I don't think he even noticed that he was missing a finger; all he knew was that right now, he was in pain.

Then Alex turned around and looked at me. "I'm going to be honest, with you, Marco," he said in a businesslike voice. "I'm going to let you in on what's going on here. The kid is leverage, got it? Do anything stupid, and I'll mail his body to Shannon's house one piece at a time."


	12. Help

SouthrnBelle – Cassie and Marco were the only ones awake at the time, and they are all in separate cells

SouthrnBelle – Cassie and Marco were the only ones awake at the time, and they are all in separate cells. Sorry if it wasn't clear... I think I have to work on descriptions of the setting more. I'll get better at that!

DinosaurNothlit – well it's good to see you back, then, too! Thanks for the info on the Gedd speech... I wasn't totally sure how to handle it. To be honest, I don't remember a lot about them. Though I never read any of the chronicles, I just read the regular ol' books 1-54 and that was it. Could you give me an example? Like, did they stick 'r's in the middle of their words, or at the beginning and/or ends of sentences, or what?

AGLIFI

My job was to track the Andalite bandits, collect information on them and the Yeerk invasion of Earth as a whole, and report back to Prince Breeyar. It was purely of an inquiring nature and I was not supposed to intervene. But I did think that most Andalites in my situation would have wanted to help, considering the fact that the penalty of not doing so was so high. I was still deciding as I crawled into the room where most of them were being held. Five of the six, to be exact. But where was the sixth?

The smell of blood led me here, but by the time I reached it, it was almost dry. There was a small puddle on the floor, but it was a thin layer, and there wasn't much to it. It was not from a very serious injury, but more than a scratch.

When I recognized a tiny human finger laying near the half-dried puddle, I froze and flashed back to seeing Scallin with that baby. That round, fat-cheeked little thing that never really wanted to stop making noise. How could this have happened? I looked at the Andalites, still in human morphs. Well, most of them, but I noticed one of them that had chosen an Earth bird. Why hadn't they demorphed?

I finally decided it was worth poking my head into their business just a little bit farther. Not necessarily to intervene, but just to converse.

((Brothers, my name is Aglifi-Frodlin-Eerak. Who is your prince?))

The two conscious Andalites jumped at the sound of my voice. The male spoke. "Who was that?"

((My name is-))

"No, I know, you're an Andalite?"

What an odd question. My name was clearly that of an Andalite. ((Of course. I am a stow-away. I was investigating the progress of your resistance to the Yeerks on Earth when you were captured. Who is your prince?))

He hesitated, and then said, "Prove you're an Andalite."

That would be easy enough. I began to demorph, right there in the middle of the room. I didn't bother to check and see if Garizon or Scallin would be coming back any time soon, as I wasn't going to be demorphed for long. I would just begin the process, enough for them to see that I was Andalite in form, and then return to my insect morph. When he nodded, I began to re-morph.

((Are you the prince?))

"No, our prince is... he's unconscious right now."

((Where is the sixth member?))

"We don't know." He paused, and then said in a rejuvenated voice, "Can you find him? His name's Ax."

((Ax?))

"No, Aximili. Can you find him? Tell us where he is. Make sure he's okay."

This particular Andalite was very demanding. He had probably spent too much time on Earth. ((I am not here to help you,)) I said slowly.

"Then what are you here for?"

((I already told you. To gather information.))

"Listen, lives are at stake here. You have to help us. If you don't, they're going to infest us. Since Alloran was taken we've made a lot of progress, and there are still secrets they don't know yet. But once we're gone, the Andalite race won't last long."

Anger overtook me. What kind of an Andalite was this? He did not sport the pride of a typical Andalite. Perhaps that was why he was a fugitive in the first place. ((How dare you imply that we cannot defeat them!))

"I'm implying we all work as a team," he answered. "We both hate the Yeerks, after all."

((You are rebels. Bandits. You are not like the rest of us.))

"Listen Ag... Fifi or whatever-"

((Aglifi,)) I corrected quietly. How strange he didn't remember. It was a common name.

"Yeah, that, listen, they're going to kill this baby human on board. He's small and he's innocent, and has nothing to do with this war. We have to help."

((I cannot condone your behavior. At the very least, I must speak with your prince.))

"Our prince ain't talkin' right now!" he responded with anger. "Are you going to help us or not?"

_He certainly has become accustomed to the humans' way of life,_ I thought as I considered his word use. It was the kind of thing that could happen with time. Accents are acquired and lost as one moves from place to place; why would vernacular be any different? Still, there was something very odd about these Andalites, aside from their already being outcasts of society.

Their strangeness made me hesitant to help them, but I would be foolish to say that was the only sense I got about them. I also sensed that, though strange, they really were trying to help, and they had good intentions. So I decided that I would aid them for the time being, however slowly.

((What do you need?)) I asked him.

"We need..." he paused. "I don't know, exactly. We need a plan. We... can you find Ax?"

((I don't know,)) I replied. ((I can try. Then what?))

"Just try," he pleaded. "We'll come up with a plan. He should be the only other Andalite on this ship... unless there's someone else on board we're unaware of."

((There is no one else,)) I replied. ((I heard the life form count. I am the 12th one. There is no one else.))

"Are you sure?"

((He was thinking out loud. I heard everything. But he knows that there is someone here unaccounted for.))

"As long as he doesn't know who that is, or where, there's nothing he can do. Go find Ax."

((What did you say was his full name?))

"Aximili-Esgarroth-Isthil."

I was a little taken aback at his response. He'd failed to mention that his other companion was the brother of Elfangor, a legend back home who'd wanted to save the human race... and failed. Aximili had disappeared. We had assumed he'd died. The fact that he was on this ship was amazing, bordering on preposterous.

((Did you say Aximili-))

"Esgarroth-Isthil," the Andalite repeated, waving his hands to inspire haste. "Yes, yes, brother of war prince Elfangor and all that jazz. Go find him already!"

I was still very frustrated with the way I was being treated, but beyond my wounded pride, it didn't count for much. I still trusted that they were doing the right thing and were just stressed, under pressure. It was understandable. Their leader unconscious, a member missing, and each of them locked in cells... and in ridiculous human morphs, what's more. I might have lost my own temper in a similar situation.

((Alright. I will go.))


End file.
